China News Agency, Jiangmen, January 12th, title: What is the code of the country in the approval of overseas Chinese in Wuyi, Jiangmen?

  ——Interview with Liu Jin, Dean of Guangdong Overseas Chinese Culture Research Institute of Wuyi University

  China News Agency reporter Sun Qiuxia

  Most of the overseas Chinese who went to North America and other places to make a living in modern times came from the Pearl River Delta and its surrounding villages, and most of them were from Wuyi.

They sent bank letters (overseas Chinese approval) to their hometowns to support their families and maintain family ties, and at the same time promoted the prosperity and development of overseas Chinese residence.

Overseas Chinese Pi is a collective name for remittances (silver) and family letters sent by overseas Chinese to their family members in China through private channels since modern times.

In 2013, 160,000 overseas Chinese from Guangdong and Fujian were officially included in the "Memory of the World" Register, becoming China's eighth "Memory of the World" heritage.

  There are a large number of overseas Chinese approvals in Wuyi, Jiangmen. What kind of family and country codes are hidden in these overseas Chinese approvals?

Liu Jin, dean of the Guangdong Overseas Chinese Cultural Research Institute of Wuyi University, recently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency's "East and West Questions" and gave an in-depth interpretation.

The interview transcript is summarized as follows:

China News Agency reporter: Why did most of the overseas Chinese who went to North America to make a living in the early days come from Wuyi?

What kind of survival history and entrepreneurial history have been recorded in the overseas Chinese batches that have been preserved to this day?

Some overseas Chinese batches exhibited in Jiangmen Taishan Yinxin Museum.

Photo by Yan Jianguang

Liu Jin:

Most of the overseas Chinese who came to North America to make a living in the early days came from the Cantonese dialect area of ​​the Pearl River Delta, and about 80% of them were from Wuyi (Wuyi refers to the five county-level administrative districts of Xinhui, Taishan, Kaiping, Enping, and Heshan under the jurisdiction of Jiangmen City today. ), Taishan people accounted for about 50%.

Wuyi has many hills, more people and less land, and the pressure of survival is greater than that of Panyu and Zhongshan in the Pearl River Delta region.

In 1848, a gold mine was discovered in California, the United States. The news caused a sensation in the world, and soon spread to the Pearl River Delta, causing strong repercussions among young men in the Wuyi area.

Under the "pull" of getting rich and the "push" of struggling to make a living, they went abroad to "seek gold" one after another, and thus formed a network of path dependence and immigration.

The entry and exit identity document of Li Qile, a Chinese from Taishan.

Photo by Sun Qiuxia

  The Wuyi Overseas Chinese Batch records vivid cases of over a hundred years of overseas Chinese and domestic family members jointly building countless transnational family communities of destiny and pursuing a better and happy life.

In modern times, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other countries where overseas Chinese lived in Wuyi had promulgated anti-Chinese laws, and the problem of racial discrimination was serious. Most overseas Chinese complained in their letters about the hardships and difficulties of making a living overseas.

  At present, there are more than 50,000 Wuyi overseas Chinese batches preserved by Chinese public cultural and museum institutions. The earliest extant Wuyi overseas Chinese batch was sent back by overseas Chinese in the United States in 1871, and more and more overseas Chinese batches were preserved later.

After the Overseas Chinese Approval Bureau was merged into the People's Bank of China in the 1970s, the Overseas Chinese Approval Bureau has since become history.

Lin Deliang, an overseas Chinese in Canada, wrote a letter to his son Lin Juju saying that "it is banned everywhere, and I am not allowed to enter the country", and it is difficult to survive.

Luo Daquanzang

Reporter from China News Agency: A large number of overseas Chinese in Wuyi, Jiangmen, who have gone overseas to make a living, after being exposed to Western culture, what kind of changes have taken place in their thinking and concepts?

How do they affect home society?

Liu Jin:

Overseas Chinese were the largest group of Chinese people who opened their eyes to see the world in the early modern times.

The main manifestations in the letters are: first, actively introduce modern things from the country and region where the overseas Chinese live, such as generators, gramophones, flush toilets, etc., to improve the production methods and quality of life in the hometown of overseas Chinese; second, the absorption and introduction of new ideas and fashions, such as More attention should be paid to children receiving modern education, and the trend of equality and democracy has been reflected in marriage and family life; the third is a strong sense of social welfare and national awareness.

Jiangmen Kaiping Diaolou.

Photo by Sun Qiuxia

  In modern times, overseas Chinese have become an important force to promote and participate in the governance and construction of China's rural areas.

In order to protect their homes, overseas Chinese in Wuyi built a large number of watchtowers to guard against bandits, and built many new villages for overseas Chinese by referring to the community model of overseas Chinese settlements, improving the living environment.

Overseas Chinese poured overseas blood and sweat resources into their hometowns, built the Xinning Railway, built criss-crossing highways; introduced advanced Western facilities, such as water supply facilities, electricity, telephones, etc.; Well-known trading towns include Chikan Ancient Town in Kaiping, Jiangmen, Meijia Courtyard (formerly known as Tingjiang Wei), and Gangning Wei (the filming location of "Goose City" in the movie "Let the Bullets Fly").

Overseas Chinese promoted the transformation of the hometown of overseas Chinese from a traditional agricultural society to an industrial society, which became a unique type of rural construction practice and exploration during the Republic of China.

China News Agency reporter: Liang Qichao, Chen Shaobai, Situ Meitang, Feng Ru and other historical celebrities are all from Jiangmen. Is it also related to the changes brought by overseas Chinese to their hometown?

Liu Jin:

Overseas Chinese in Wuyi pay special attention to cultural education. They have donated money to build a large number of schools, libraries, reading newspapers and newspapers. They also set up overseas Chinese magazines with the largest number of overseas Chinese in modern China. The level of civilization of the village.

It is not accidental that Liang Qichao, Chen Shaobai and other historical and cultural celebrities who lead China's direction have been produced in the Wuyi area of ​​Jiangmen. This is closely related to the cultural soil here.

Overseas Chinese Wu Yaochu sent 50 yuan to his father, which was used to distribute lai sees to the children at home during the Chinese New Year.

Li Jingyao Tibetan

  The west bank of the Pearl River from Macau to Guangzhou is an important channel of the Maritime Silk Road, and it is also a frontier for the confrontation and collision of Chinese and foreign ideologies and cultures. Some scholars call it the "cultural corridor on the west bank of the Pearl River" in modern times.

The Jiangmen Wuyi area happens to be in this corridor, and the large number of overseas Chinese here is also related to the open atmosphere of the area.

A large number of overseas Chinese have gone abroad, which has brought a more inclusive, open and progressive social and cultural environment, and has bred more famous historical figures who have made outstanding contributions to the country and the nation. Feng Ru and Situ Meitang have gone to the world and become leaders in the overseas Chinese community.

Letter from Situ Meitang to Zhang Zhusan.

Photo by Weng Danping

China News Agency reporter: Through the research on a large number of overseas Chinese, what kind of collective consciousness do you think the overseas Chinese in Wuyi, Jiangmen have?

Liu Jin:

In the Overseas Chinese Criticism, overseas Chinese call themselves "Tang people" and return to China as "Hui Tang".

The Han and Tang Dynasties were China's prosperous times, and they were proud of China's glorious history.

They realized that they suffered racial discrimination and exclusion abroad because they did not have a strong motherland as their backing. Ordinary overseas Chinese talked about donating money for the Anti-Japanese War in the Overseas Chinese Criticism. A country has a home."

In Guangzhou, Guangdong, the bank letter exhibited at the "Family and Country Feelings Sending Rulers - Jiangmen Wuyi Overseas Chinese Approval (Bank Letter) Special Exhibition".

Photo by Guo Jun

  In 1937, an overseas Chinese in the United States said in a letter: "Everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the country", "Where is the country?!" To carry out the four modernizations, we overseas Chinese in the United States hope that our motherland will be prosperous and strong, and our overseas Chinese have a good backer." Realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is the dream of generations of Chinese people at home and abroad. Every family letter tells and witnesses The feelings of home and country of overseas Chinese.

China News Agency reporter: At present, there are more than 5.3 million Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan compatriots from Wuyi in Jiangmen and overseas Chinese living in more than 140 countries and regions around the world. How to protect the culture of overseas Chinese and inherit the spirit of overseas Chinese in the future?

Liu Jin:

Jiangmen is not only a famous hometown of overseas Chinese formed in modern times, but also an active hometown of overseas Chinese after the reform and opening up, with a large number of new immigrants.

The new generation of Chinese Americans has integrated into various countries and regions, becoming local builders and contributors.

New and old immigrants will always remember their hometown and care about their hometown development.

In recent years, the trend of the new generation of Chinese Americans seeking their blood and cultural roots in their ancestral homeland is very popular. They explore "Who am I? Where do I come from?" to provide historical and cultural confidence for "Where to go".

Some of the overseas Chinese batches displayed in the Overseas Chinese Museum in Wuyi, Jiangmen.

Photo by Sun Qiuxia

  In order to protect the culture of Qiaopi, we must first rescue the Qiaopi that is in danger of being lost. At present, there are a large number of Qiaopi being circulated and traded among the people, and they should be rescued as soon as possible and stored in cultural institutions with good conditions.

Secondly, it is necessary to strengthen academic research, carry out academic refinement of the daily life of transnational families discussed by Overseas Chinese Criticism, explore cultural heritage, and pay special attention to international academic comparative research.

Third, strengthen the revitalization and utilization, and disseminate and promote the spirit of overseas Chinese and the excellent traditional Chinese culture through museums, film and television dramas, urban cultural landscapes, and education in universities, middle schools and primary schools.

(Finish)

Respondent profile:

  Liu Jin, Dean and Professor of Guangdong Overseas Chinese Hometown Culture Research Institute of Wuyi University, author of "Taishan Bank Letter", "Wuyi Bank Letter", "Bank Letter and Wuyi Overseas Chinese Hometown Society", etc., participated in "Overseas Chinese Approval Archives: Overseas Overseas Chinese Silver Trust "applied the research and development of the World Memory Heritage text.